Last week, I was looking for archival sound from an LBJ speech where he declared war on poverty. I wanted the footage for a story I was working on about whether or not we measure the poverty rate wrong.
I found it, and I also found something unexpected. I came across an old commercial from the 1964 presidential campaign. Johnson was running for a full term after serving out the remainder of the assassinated John F. Kennedy's term.
In the most recent presidential election almost anything related to poverty (food stamp bashing and one VP candidate speech notwithstanding), was unmentionable.
Coming off that experience I was a little shocked to see any ad, even such an old one, that puts poverty front and center as an issue that mattered deeply to the candidate and the country.
I haven't looked for other ads from different election cycles or other candidates - I just stumbled across this one - but I would be very interested to see them. If any come to mind, send them my way and I'll continue to post them.
